威廉 福克纳

About the text
“A Rose for Emily” is one of Faulkner’s most widely read in the American classroom. Chinese students may find it difficult to understand and appreciate. Some of them may think it is a bizarre story about an old eccentric lady in an American Southern town. It is true that the setting of the story is the American South. Yet, the theme of the story is universal, transcending the boundaries of time and space. Like many other works of great literature, this short story tells about love, death, honor, pride, change, and loss.
The Meaning of the Title
• The meaning of the title is ambiguous, capable of various interpretations. A rose is a symbolizing love and a pledge of faithfulness. From the story we can see Miss Emily was denied love. So, in this sense, the title has an ironic meaning. A rose for somebody can also mean a kind of memorial, an offering, in memory of somebody.
Booksቤተ መጻሕፍቲ ባይዱof short stories:
• • •
Won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1949
"for his powerful and artistically unique contribution to the modern American novel"
The man himself lay in the bed. …… For a long while we just stood there, looking down at the profound and fleshless grin. The body had apparently once lain in the attitude of an embrace, …… Then we noticed that in the second pillow was the indentation of a head. …… we saw a long strand of iron-gray hair.
Major
Major Novels :
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Works
The Sound and the Fury(1929) 《喧哗与骚动》 喧哗与骚动》 As I Lay Dying(1930) 《我弥留之际》 我弥留之际》 Sanctuary(1931) 《圣殿》 圣殿》 Light in August(1932) 《八月之光》 八月之光》 Absalom , Absalom !(1936) 《押沙龙！押沙龙！》 押沙龙！押沙龙！ The Hamlet(1940) 《村子》The Town(1957) 村子》 小镇》 《小镇》The Mansion(1959)《大宅》 《大宅》 — Snopes Trilogy “斯诺普斯三部曲” 斯诺普斯三部曲” 斯诺普斯三部曲 …… These Thirteen (1931) 《十三篇》 十三篇》 Go down, Moses(1942) 《去吧，摩西》 去吧，摩西》 The Collected Stories of William Fanlkner(1950) 福克纳短篇小说集》 《福克纳短篇小说集》 ……
“那男人躺在床上。……那没有肉的脸上令人 莫测的呲牙咧嘴的样子。……显出一度是拥抱 的姿势，……旁边那只枕头上有人头压过的痕 迹，……原来是一缕长长的铁灰色的头发。”
• The story is set in the southern town of Jefferson in Yoknapatawpha （约克纳帕塔法）Country which is also the setting for a dozen of his novels. Emily Grierson, the protagonist, has been twisted in personality by forces beyond her control. Dominated by her aristocratic father, she has been prevented from marrying and after his death she is left alone and penniless. She kills her lover Homer Barron in order to keep him with her. She does not accept change of the time and alienates herself from the community. She is insane and her actions grotesque, but she is a victim, a tragic woman who invites sympathy. One of the themes of this story is the relation of the individual and his actions to the past, present and future. Apart from the exploration of psychological reality, the displaced chronology in narration is also characteristic of Faulkner’s style.
Writing Style
• Flashback（倒叙） and foreshadowing （铺垫）are two often used literary devices that utilize time in order to produce a desired effect. Flashbacks are used to present action that occurs before the beginning of a story; foreshadowing creates expectation for action that has not yet happened. Faulkner uses both devices in ‘‘A Rose for Emily.’’
• Faulkner is the most powerful and eloquent representative of American Southern writers. American Southern writers mainly write about the history, customs, people and social change of the American South, a region that contains much beauty, violence, passion, courage and, finally tragedy. It was from the region's characteristics that Faulkner drew the material for most of his fiction.
A Rose for Emily
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William Faulkner 威廉•福克纳 威廉 福克纳 (1897—1962)
李宝钰 林梦露 应傅健
About the author
• Faulkner was born in New Albany and raised in nearby Oxford, and lived there almost all his life. He left school in his last year of middle school and later studied as a special student at the University of Mississippi. Fond of literature, he was increasingly motivated to become a writer. In l9l8, he enlisted in the British Royal Flying Corps. Later he travelled Europe and learned the experimental writing of James Joyce and of the ideas of Sigmund Freud. He died of a heart attack in Oxford.
What kind of a woman is Miss Emily?
• Born into an aristocratic family of the South, Miss Emily was proud, selfimportant and obstinate（倔强的） like other Griersons. As a lady from such a family, she enjoyed a high but obsolete social status. On the one hand she was placed on a pedestal for people to admire as if she were perfect. She was closely watched by the community and was always expected to bring honor to the town and set a good example for the young. She was viewed as a representative of the Southern tradition, “an idol in the niche”. Nominated by her father, a niche . she was deprived of all opportunities for a happy marriage and thus for a normal woman’s life. After she began to court with Homer Barron, a Northern laborer, she was accused of being a disgrace to the town and a bad example to the young people. The patriarchal and social pressure warped her character. She tried hard to cling to the past, which meant privilege and glory to her. She cut herself off from the changing world and lived in complete self-isolation. Over the years, she was transformed from a subordinate young lady controlled by her domineering father to a middle-aged woman courting a laborer against the accusation of the community and then to a murderer who not only killed her love but also kept the corpse in her house and even sometimes lay down beside the remains of the dead body.